Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Breyers BLASTS! Strawberry Waffle Cone Review

[Walmart first in 2012, widespread in 2013, cancelled before 2016 season]
I know a lot of you don't understand my affinity for berry flavored ice creams, but I've always had a soft spot for them. I just love the change of pace they provide from the otherwise routine vanilla-chocolate cycle. So, well, let's break that cycle.

This is the new Strawberry variation of the Breyers BLASTS! Waffle Cone. I enjoyed the regular flavor so I'm hoping this one might work too. Ok, I'm also a sucker for anything with fudge covered waffle cones bits, though I don't think that I've ever seen anyone try to mix them with a fruity base before.

Look at the big frozen dairy dessert air ripples! At least we've got a nice scattering of waffle cone bits everywhere. You can also see a bit of the strawberry swirl at the top center of the picture.

Let's take a quick look a the very thin and liquidy swirls.

Well I've dug into this one a few times and it definitely won't make you a convert to the berry club, it's just way too sweet for that. I think the weirdest thing is that despite real strawberries being in the base as well as the swirl, it still tastes artificial. Granted it's my own fault for expected classic Breyer's strawberry flavor when I knew full well I would get some mucked up version, but it's still frustrating none the less.

Now it's not a total loss mind you. The waffle bits have got a pleasant flavor and there are tons of them. You can see that they are nice sized chunks with a good chocolate to waffle ratio. No complaints on these. I'd be more than happy to see these in another flavor for 2013.

Back to my original point, which is why is this so sweet? why? seriously, why? Dial it down and you might have had a half-decent treat.... well, maybe, because there is some kind of funk building up here. The intense artificial sweetness is adding up on my poor taste buds. I had a small serving and thought "hey, that wasn't 100% horrible (or filling), let's have a bit more" but now the funk is wearing me out. Maybe the secret is to not stop.... nah, too late. Once you've been artificially funked, there's just no going back.

On Second Scoop: Ok, I think the secret here is to only have a small serving. If you don't have too much, you can convince yourself that it's not that bad. Granted you shouldn't have to force yourself to enjoy something, but at the same time I can't say that this is a complete disaster (mainly because of the waffle bits). It has it's place but hopefully it will move on and be replaced by something better.

Verdict? not a complete loss, but could have been much betterBuy Again? unlikely